Convenience also comes into play in helping pros take advantage of option-amped boomers. “What you really want to do is create packages that increase the perceived value of what they are buying,” says Jane Meagher, president of Success Strategies, a marketing consulting firm in Manalapan, N.J. “Put together option packages that increase sales and streamline the buyers’ decision-making time.”
Recalling their youthful unrest for the social status quo, today’s baby boomers also maintain a concern for the environment. “Activists of the ’60s are today’s active adults,” says Doug Van Lerberghe, senior project manager for Kephart, a Denver-based architecture and design firm with a portfolio of master planned communities, high-density infill projects, and a variety of multifamily housing for that market. “They are keenly interested in environmentally friendly homes that allow them to be true to their convictions.”
As with products to help achieve universal design, sustainable substitutes for almost every component of a home’s design, construction, and operation, including insulated windows and patio doors, responsibly harvested wood for framing, floors, and cabinets, various insulation products, and low-toxin or non-toxic coatings, are fair game for dealers to satisfy demand and leverage higher margins … at least until that demand becomes truly mainstream under the weight of 80 million consumers and those following in their footsteps.
Second Chances For dealers struggling with the dilemma of focusing their sales efforts on production builders or small-volume, high-margin pros, including remodelers, the age of active adult buyers might well remove making a choice. Not only are their high-end tastes all over the board (akin to a custom-home or remodeling customer), but in enough volume to push the largest builders (including all of the top five) into constructing homes and communities for boomers. “A home’s personalization is key to its appeal to active adults,” says Debra Newell, founder and president of Ambrosia Interior Design.
Add to the mix a significant number of boomers who prefer to stay in their current homes to age in place, and remodeling contractors are poised to enjoy a similar demand for their services as their builder counterparts. “A majority of middle-aged Americans think that they’ll be able to stay in their current home for the rest of their life,” says Newell, citing a 2004 AARP study, “but most of them haven’t considered the changes they will need to make to their homes to accommodate their diminishing health and physical abilities as they age.”
In addition to remodeling their homes, there’s another second chance for pros to impress the active adult market: a subculture of financially secure boomers searching for second homes. A recent survey by the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports the typical second-home buyer is 55 years old and that one-quarter of them spend more than six months a year at their second home.
“Nexers want to explore resort-style communities where they can relax and do the things they want to do when they want to do them,” says William E. Becker, president and managing director of the William E. Becker Organization in Teaneck, N.J., a market planning and consulting firm specializing in active-adult communities.
If Orlando, Fla., builder Alex Hannigan’s latest home there is any indication, second homes for active adults will far outstrip even what those buyers are used to in their primary residences. The 6,980-square-foot lake-side home has all the boomerized amenities, from a main-level master and home office to an elevator and tricked-out workshop garage—not to mention a host of resource and energy efficiencies—designed for a semi-retired couple spending their winters in the warmer climate. “It’s the ‘all-about-me’ generation, but with a conscience,” says Hannigan, a custom builder who recognizes the potential for seasonal boomer buyers in his market. “They want it all.”
Allover Opportunities If dealers think active adults will only flock to Florida or the Southwest to spend their sunset years, recent history among builders actively pursuing that market—including gurus like Del Webb—indicates age-appropriate housing communities are popping up all over, a trend that extends the opportunity to pros and their dealers nationwide.
For instance, the NAR survey also found that nearly two-thirds of boomer buyers bought a second home within 100 miles of their primary residence. Meanwhile, NAHB housing policy analysts filtered through the 2000 census to discover counties in many states enjoying tremendous growth in active adult–targeted community development among a then-estimated 21 million home buyers ages 55 to 74 nationwide.
